Submit your Story!
Submit your Story
Were your career aspirations inspired by your research project in the Amazon? Did you have a miscommunication with your internship supervisor in India? Did you fall in love in Brazil while doing volunteer work? Were you mugged in Portugal while backpacking?
If so, we want to hear about it! And, we want you to share it with the University of Michigan community as part of the International Career Pathway's Lost in Translation: Stories of Global Experiences event.
To be a featured Storyteller at Lost in Translation: Stories of Global Experiences, complete the form below by Thursday, October 24, 2019.
Storytellers will be asked to share their story with the selection committee for a pre-screening on Thursday, November 7, 2019. Storytellers will be informed of their acceptance to share their story by November 8, 2018.
Stories should be no more than five minutes.
See below for tips to consider before submitting your story.
Tips for Storytelling:
Stories are told, not read. Please know your story “by heart” but not by rote memorization. No notes, paper or cheat sheets allowed on stage.
Stakes are essential in live storytelling. What do you stand to gain or lose? Why is what happens in the story important to you? If you can’t answer this, then think of a different story. A story without stakes is an essay and is best experienced on the page, not the stage.
Have a great first line that sets up the stakes or grabs attention.
No: “So I was thinking about climbing this mountain. But then I watched a little TV and made a snack and took a nap and my mom called and vented about her psoriasis then I did a little laundry (a whites load) (I lost another sock, darn it!) and then I thought about it again and decided I’d climb the mountain the next morning.”
Yes: “The mountain loomed before me. I had my hunting knife, some trail mix and snow boots. I had to make it to the little cabin and start a fire before sundown or freeze to death for sure.”
Steer clear of meandering endings. They kill a story! Your last line should be clear in your head before you start. Yes, bring the audience along with you as you contemplate what transpires in your story, but remember, you are driving the story, and must know the final destination. Keep your hands on the wheel!
Know your story well enough so you can have fun! Watching you panic to think of the next memorized line is harrowing for the audience. Make an outline, memorize your bullet points and play with the details. Enjoy yourself. Imagine you are at a dinner party, not a deposition.
No stand-up routines, please.
No rants, please. Take up this anger issue with your therapist, or skip therapy and shape your anger into a story with some sort of resolution. (Stories = therapy!)
No essays, please. Your eloquent musings are beautiful and look pretty on the page but unless you can make them gripping and set up stakes, they won’t work on stage.
Storytelling tips and other information courtesy of "The Moth"